My Mess
Job 42:2 [Job is talking to God here] "I know that You can do all things, and that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted."
Wow! The last time I sent y'all anything was in October.
In all honesty, I've thought about writing you every day. But, in fact, I couldn't. For a moment, my little plane of life had completely stalled and was headed into a tailspin urgently compelled by gravity.
What started it all? "You should write a book." That's all it took. I began to over think what I wanted to write. I began to constipate my thought processes with topical organization, serious vs. humorous content, audience, voice, etc. Writer's block prevailed.
And then? Life erupted. Literally, events vomited onto the Hickcox plate. Yep, vomited seems to be the most accurate description which comes to mind.
Onto the tablet of my heart and mind, I DID write quite a bit these past 8 weeks. For every complaint, angry tears, cry for help, desperate tears and pitiful mewls of incoherent gibberish, God's Spirit flooded my spirit with His words of Truth. Debbie's constant gardening of our friendship: phone calls, surprise visits, e-mail encouragement; Frank's prayer over us just before we drift off to sleep; prayer time at church one Sunday with precious friends; phrases from worship songs, lines from other's devotionals, grace spoken from the pulpit, memorized scripture – all merciful ways God reminded me of His constant presence and mindfulness of our messy life and, at times, impossible (to me) situation.
Life IS messy. Into this mess God sheds His grace, mercy and incredible goodness. Today's devotion from LYWB is just another example. For me, it is God saying in a very intimate way to me, "I know what is going on in your life. Trust Me. My plans cannot be thwarted. Keep coming to Me. I love you. I hear you. Keep trusting Me."
In these past weeks, I've learned how inflexible I really am. I am quite rigid, in fact. If things aren't going the way I want them to, I shut down. Quite probably, God must see me as a spoiled child flailing upon the ground, kicking and screaming for everything to go the way I planned it.
If I could just, literally, relax in His arms...I would find the elusive peace I am incomplete without. For me, it is an issue of trust. On all fronts in our life, not one thing is left in my control any longer. As if I really had control in the first place.
I know most of you don't know the intimate details of which I speak, but it doesn't really matter. It isn't out of embarrassment or shame that I don't detail the mess we're in right now. The issue isn't the mess; the issue is what we do in the midst of the mess. The more I trust me and my abilities, the more messed up I get. The more I trust God, the mess doesn't exactly go away, but it does help keep a perspective focused on Him and not me (or the mess). And, the mess is just momentary in the scheme of things, really.
How F-l-e-x-i-b-l-e Are You?
Myself posted by Paula Hendricks on 12/08/11 from: http://www.liesyoungwomenbelieve.com/index.php?id=858
Have you ever seen "White Christmas"? The family I live with watches this 1954 film every year while they put up their Christmas tree. Last night, I probably should've gotten off the couch to help them string lights and hang ornaments, but I was too preoccupied watching Judy's (actress Vera-Ellen) beautiful dancing. What grace and flexibility!
How flexible are you?
I'm actually not wondering how good of a dancer you are . . . I'm wondering how flexible you are with your plans and your time. Personally, I haven't won any awards for my flexibility—on the dance floor or in life in general! But I think I might be starting to improve.
A couple weeks ago, I took a week-long vacation to visit a friend in Kentucky. We had lots of fun things planned, but most of them didn't happen. Instead, lots of yucky, unexpected things happened—like . . . we got food poisoning!
But you know what was crazy? God gave me the grace to be flexible with it all. Here's how. The day I left for the airport, the Holy Spirit spoke so clearly to me through Job 42:2. Job is talking to God in this passage, and says: "I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted."
God spoke to my heart, "Paula, your plans for your vacation might be thwarted (prevented or opposed), but my plans for you will not be thwarted. Everything will happen exactly as I want it to!"
And you know what? I had a great time—even though almost nothing happened the way I thought it would. I hope I won't soon forget the truth found in Job 42:2. Cause it's true all the time, in all situations. Do you believe it?
As we embrace this f-l-e-x-i-b-i-l-i-t-y (which is really just trust in God), I have a sneaking suspicion that God will find us even more beautiful than Judy's graceful dancing!
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Mary E.Hickcox
www.CalvaryBaptistSM.org
http://mary-neotes.blogspot.com/